Japanese IR investment firm Current, which is based in Nagasaki City, has been revealed as the second company to officially enter the race to develop an integrated resort in Nagasaki after Casinos Austria confirmed its participation earlier this week.
Current’s Representative Director, Tamotsu Suzuki, revealed on Tuesday that the company would respond to the prefecture’s Request for Concept (RFC), as reported by the Nagasaki Shimbun, stating, “We hope to propose an IR that takes advantage of the beautiful Dutch-inspired area and showcases the history of Nagasaki.”
Current described a total investment budget of JPY550 billion (US$5 billion) at a seminar held in Sasebo City at the end of June. Suzuki explained this week that “this amount was calculated very carefully. We are also considering infrastructure improvements for transportation.”
In addition to Current, Suzuki also serves as director of two companies in Yokohama city and Shizuoka city, and one company in Hong Kong. The parent group is made up of these four organizations and dabbles in the IR business in Macau, the Philippines and Las Vegas as an investment firm and in capital tie-ups. The headquarters was recently transferred to Nagasaki City and the company has been connecting with the locals by, for example, establishing an office in Sasebo City.
The prefecture will start its RFC on 1 November. After hearing plans from each of the IR operators, the public offering will officially begin next year, narrowing down to a single operator by autumn.
Nagasaki is set to develop its IR at Dutch-inspired theme park Huis Ten Bosch and has already cemented a deal to purchase land from the theme park’s operators should it be given the green light by the national government.
